


Shattering a Kilowatt

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Magic by the Kilowatt, Soft and Shattered
Genre: Gen, THE MOST NICHE THING I'VE WRITTEN YET, Takes place after the end of Magic By The Kilowatt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 16:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16223042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Ray, through some kind of odd circumstances, ends up going to an equally odd party hosted at a college fairly far from home.





	Shattering a Kilowatt

Ray had done a lot of strange things in their life. They’d gone to an idol concert in the middle of nowhere in Georgia, and somehow ended up kissing an idol despite the two of them not speaking a common language. They’d played in a band for a while, which seemed normal until the part where the other members of the band were a space cat and a their friend’s sister who was really more like her mom. They’d even been a magical girl for a while. Well, sort of. It was a little complicated. But they’d worn the outfit and shot the laser beams, so it was still plenty weird.

But most of those things they’d just kinda stumbled into, one way or another. This newest strange thing they were doing by choice. And the fact that they _were_ choosing to do it was the strangest part of all, really.

Glancing down at the flier again to confirm the address, they knocked on the door sharply.

A girl with shockingly vivid green hair pulled open the door. “Hello!” she said. “Can I help you?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ray said. “I’m here for the uh,” they glanced down at the flier to confirm. “All gender all sexuality all night no limits kissfest sex party?”

“Wh-” The girl flushed red, clearly affronted by the mere _idea_ of it. “I think you have the wrong door. We have a social scheduled for today, but I can assure you that we are _not_ -”

“Welcome, welcome!” Another person slid out from behind the first girl, pushing her out of the way and spreading their arms wide. They had an equally flashy hair colour, a deep lavender that looked eerily natural for something that was so obviously not. Ray wasn’t… really sure about their gender. They looked kind of fem, but… well, they weren’t going to assume that sort of thing, with how many people had gotten their own gender wrong. “You’re at the right place, darling, and oh my, am I glad!”

They looked Ray up and down and smiled. “Nonbinary,” they said confidently. “And _rocking it_ , for sure.”

“Uh,” Ray said. “Yeah.”

“Jaime!” The first girl snapped. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Look, Yu-Yu-”

“I told you I-”

“ _Listen_ , no one wants to come to something as _boring_ as a ‘social’, okay? This isn’t a 50s highschool where we’re all meeting up to get a soda pop before the sock hop,” Jamie (name as of yet unconfirmed) said.

“More like a sack hop,” a voice called out from within the room, and Jamie turned to give the owner of the voice finger guns, grinning.

“I fail to understand what a race wearing a sack and hopping has to do with a sex party,” came another voice from inside. Ray was starting to feel a little awkward just standing there.

“He means from bed to bed,” another voice clarified.

“Ah. Colloquially called ‘the sack’. I see.”

“ _Regardless_ ,” the green haired girl (Yuyu?) said, gritting her teeth. “There will be absolutely no ‘sex parties’ held in a common area in this dorm!”

“There’s literally no rule against it,” the voice that had made the joke about sacks remarked.

“You can’t be serious,” Yuyu said.

“As long as no one actually has intercourse outside of their own room and keeps a reasonable amount of clothes on, hookups at parties are absolutely allowed,” sack-joke insisted. “What, are you gonna be the stereotypical tyrant RA and boss us around instead of actually following what’s in the handbook?”

“Shameful,” Jaime said.

“Disgraceful.”

“Honestly, I’m disappointed in you.”

“Uh,” Ray said, as Yuyu frowned at Jaime and sack-joke’s double act. “Look, should I just go?”

“Absolutely not!” Jaime said, grabbing their hand. “Please, come in! Introduce yourself!”

Ray allowed themself to be dragged into the center of the room. Yuyu shut the door behind them, clearly unhappy about the situation but reluctant to kick them out. For their part, they were starting to regret even bothering with this whole affair.

“So!” Jaime said, striking a dramatic stance. “I’m Lucie. Any pronouns are fine, any gender of partner is also fine. I’m also _stunningly_ beautiful, as you can see, so come talk to me early or you might miss your chance to hook up.”

She winked at Ray. Ray shifted a little uncomfortably. God, they should have just stayed home. What were they thinking, coming to a _sex par_ \- well, actually maybe it wasn’t a sex party, according to Yuyu. If that _was_ her name.They’d been wrong about Jaime/Lucie’s name, it was possible Yuyu was also off.

“Hey, you introduce yourself too,” Lucie said, gesturing at a dark haired guy with sharp eyes playing with his phone.

“Why am I always the one who has to do introductions right after you?” the guy complained, revealing himself to be the person who’s made the joke about the sack earlier. “Whatever. Ismat. Trans male. Bi. Largely uninterested in this. Follow me on twitter to see my continuing thoughts on the evening.”

“If you’re not interested in this, _then why did you look up a loophole to let it happen_?” Yuyu asked, exasperated.

“Obviously to mess with you?” Ismat said.

Yuyu glared at him, and Ismat smirked.

“Eyych-tee-tee-pee colon slash slash eye dot kay-why-em dash see-dee-en dot com slash photos slash images slash newsfeed slash zero zero one slash zero eight eight slash six three seven slash sea six seven dot jay pee gee.”

“What?” Yuyu said, blinking in confusion, and Lucie snickered.

What the hell kind of insane code was this…? Ray shook their head as the next person along cleared her throat.

“Hi, I’m, um, Nalaya. I’m a trans woman,” Nalaya was, uh. Short. That was the first thing Ray noticed about her. She had to be a least half a foot shorter than everyone else. Cute hair, though. And a sane blondish colour. ”And, um, I’m bi. Probably.”

Probably?

“Nalaya is _great_ and none of you deserve her even a little bit,” Lucie said, hugging her protectively. “She’s not totally sure if she wants to take part in this whole ‘one night stand’ business just yet, and if any of you try anything funny I’ll bury you in the yard.”

“Nalaya is quite pleasant, it’s true. I think it’s my turn now?” The woman who spoke up next was surprisingly… elegant? She seemed oddly model like to Ray. Her hair was purple too, but a lot darker than Lucie’s. “Pleased to meet those of you are new. I am _Ophelia_ , like the Shakespeare character. I’m a trans woman, and I love art. In particular, some of the more experimental, original movements, like postmodernism or-”

“Tell her the story about the Australian guy!” Lucie interrupted.

“What story about the Australian guy?” Ray asked.

“I-” Ophelia deflated a little. “The Australian guy story isn’t important. What’s important is that art is-”

“She’s gay, by the way. In case you wanted information relevant to the party. The party about sex, not art,” Lucie interjected.

“Oh, fine,” Ophelia said, sighing. “I’m willing to discuss art with anyone who’s interested once introductions are over, then.”

Ray made a mental note to avoid her.

“I’m Kayleigh,” said the girl to her left, a brunette with a ponytail. Apparently they were going counter clockwise now. “I’m, uh, straight. And cis, for whatever’s that worth.” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “I sorta… thought there’d be more guys here, honestly. I mean, you know, the flier said ‘sex’ and all…”

“The part with ‘all genders and all sexualities’ tends to spook the straight boys, dear,” Lucie said.

Kayleigh sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Well, nice to meet all of you, anyway,” she said dejectedly.

“I think it’s my turn now,” said a… surprisingly tall person in a black dress. With… black hair and dark eyes, too. They were practically a black hole. It reminded Ray of how they used to dress when they were… uh, in costume. “My name is Peyton Raleigh. I am majoring in computer science. An interesting fact about me is that I am eighteen years old. That is a mere blip on the radar of the universe. The oldest star known, HD 140285, is estimated to be 14.46 billion years old, roughly the age of the universe.”

Wait, the universe was only like 14 billion years old?! Ray _knew_ Cat had been full of shit with his goddamn “at war with them for 17 billion years” thing! Well, aside from the other parts of that had been- well, whatever. The point was, Cat was a goddamn liar.

“The stars that shine the most brilliantly, however...” Peyton continued. “Are also the shortest lived.”

“Isn’t this the same introduction you gave at the dorm orientation?” Ismat asked skeptically.

“It is still accurate,” Peyton said matter-of-factly. “Additionally, I identify as agender. I prefer the pronouns ve/ver, but they/them are also acceptable.”

Huh. Honestly,  Ray hadn’t… really expected to run into someone non-binary. Or was agender different? Ray wasn’t quite sure.

“What about your sexuality?” Lucie prompted. She really did seem to be the one who was organizing all of this.

“Undecided. I attended this gathering on the notion that it would be a social. I did not intend to come to a sexual party.”

“Does that mean that you’re out?”

Peyton paused. “...It means that I am unlikely to find a partner suitable,” ve said carefully. “I am sure there are better people here to approach, but if someone would be interested in speaking with me I am not… entirely against the notion.”

“Alright then. How about you?” Lucie said, gesturing to Ray. Ray really wished they’d taken the chance to sit down somewhere. They felt like they were at the front of class during show and tell or something, with all the eyes on them.

“I’m Ray,” Ray said, crossing their arms. They’d changed since high school, including their fashion sense, but jeans and a leather jacket never went out of style. Probably. “I’m non-binary, they/them, and I’m into girls. And, uh, other people outside the binary, I guess.” Don’t look at Peyton when you say that, Ray, don’t look at Peyton don’t look at Peyton... “Not guys, though.”

Don’t look at Ism- actually, who the fuck cared if they looked at Ismat? He could deal.

“Well then, if that’s everyone who’s taking part, let’s-”

“I’m not letting you do this nonsense _unchaperoned,_ Jaime,” Yuyu said. “Hello, newcomers, and hello again, members of the dorm. I’m Yuzu, a trans woman and the RA here. Please, come to me if anyone makes you uncomfortable-”

“-or if you really want a big sloppy kiss from a big sexy nerd,” Lucie interjected, and Yuzu (Ray was zero for two on those name guesses) looked over at her frostily.

“-or if you want to know where something is,” she finished. “And with that, I suppose introductions really _are_ over.”

“We only got two people from outside the dorm,” Lucie said with a sigh. “I knew I should have put out fliers earlier.”

“Um, actually,” Kayleigh said. “I think I saw someone throwing them out after I grabbed one, so uh, that might be why.”

Lucie put a hand to her chest dramatically. “How _dare_ they. Ismat, say something mean about them on social media.”

“Already on it,” Ismat replied.

“So then, go and mingle!” Lucie announced, spreading her arms wide. “Go forth and kiss the person of your dreams! And then go back to their dorm before going any further, so Yu-Yu doesn’t call the college cops.”

Ray paused and glanced around the room. Unsurprisingly, Kayleigh had quickly zipped over to Ismat and was seemingly trying to be more interesting than his phone with… mixed success. Ophelia had engaged Yuzu in a conversation somehow, which Ray was grateful for because it meant they didn’t have to risk a conversation about art or an awkward disapproving lecture on rules from the RA.

That left Nalaya, Lucie, and Peyton.

Ray took a deep breath, and took a step forward towards what would turn out to be the best night of their life.

 


End file.
